In the beginning
by midgetbeans
Summary: Allegra Carahornne had everything, friends, family, money. What happens when her mum dies, and her life slips into disarray over the years. Can her friends help her. Slight prequal to my Bell story.
1. September 1st, Back to School

For the third time that morning Allegra was awoken to the piercing sound of her mother screeching at her from the bottom of the stairs.

She was certain that every Allegra in the country had been woken by this noise, yet still she remained in bed. It wasn't because she was tired; in all honesty she was ready to get out of bed. It was only because she knew that once she got up it would be the last time until Christmas that she would sleep in this bed.

With a great sigh she heaved herself off the bed and crossed over to her wardrobe. She pulled open the doors and peered inside, trying to focus her energy on finding a decent outfit for school.

Luckily she didn't have to make her way down to London to get the train, so she had quite a while before she had to leave for the bus. Although she'd much rather floo there, or something equally as effortless. There was something in arriving at school just before everyone else knowing that you didn't stink of train fumes. Lily said that it was her down to a tee.

After staring at her vast quantities clothing she decided that there wouldn't be many people milling around the streets of Kilrainey, Dumlairnoch or even Hogsmeade, so she would be ok in her ever so hideous uniform.

Now that she had made the tough clothing decisions she re assessed her trunk on the floor. Half full, with its contents spilling across the room, her trunk resembled some sort of bombsite. There was a strange blue stain on the silk lining of the lid, which Allegra was sure had something to do with Sirius Black, a pile of old notes from Remus and Lily. And something that seemed to resemble a turnip, shrivelled at the bottom next to a pile of dirty socks. She was pretty sure that had turned up after an intense Herbology lesson in fifth year. So there was definitely no reason for it to still be in there now she was starting seventh year.

Allegra knelt on the floor and grabbed the pile of clean washing her mother had left on the chair next to her. She sorted through the washing, pulling out what she'd need to wear that day, and piling everything she didn't want to take back on the chair. She then pulled out the weird turnip thing and threw it into the bin. The turnip was soon followed by some old divination notes, a letter about the Hogwarts Christmas Ball 1975 and a broken quill. She then began to pile everything she had removed back into the trunk, placing her clothes neatly in one corner, covered by her towel so that they wouldn't get dirty. Finally she forced one last sock in, before closing the lid and checking around the room for anything she may have forgotten.

By this time the clock had reached half 11. Already her friends had been in each others company for half an hour, and she was still trying to work out if it was worth taking her black pleated mini, especially as it was now fashionable to wear the tartan style school skirts. She decided yes just as her mum pushed open her door.

"Ah good you're all packed. Your Aunt Minerva just sent an owl asking if you wanted to go in early for lunch or if you wanted to go in for six as planned and just have a snack when you get there."

"Six, but I don't need a snack, its bad enough trying to fit that entire feast in my stomach as it is."

Her mum nodded and cast a beady eye over her room. Just as she turned to leave she gave an involuntary cough, which was then followed by a coughing fit. Allegra hurried over to her mum's side, holding her up and passing her a glass of water from the desk.

"Mum are you alright? That's like the third time it's happened this week. Plus dad says it happened all the time when I was at school. You know the healer said to take it slow."

Allegra was worried for her mum. Bearing ten children had had its toll on Constance Carahornneand she had begun to get sicker and sicker. The coughing fits were just a small part of her weak health. The healers could find no other explanation other than it was possibly hereditary and definitely life threatening. It scared Allegra when she had found out, but it had been five years now and it appeared that Constance was slowly regaining her health.

"Don't you worry about me Allegra, just you worry about the tough year you have ahead of you. NEWTs, plus you have to make sure you keep that gorgeous man. Blokes like Remus don't come around very often. He is a proper gentleman, and he'll see you right. I know it can be hard to be in such a long term relationship when you're this young, but you will be happy for it when all your other friends are single and desperate."

"Not Lily, she wrote to me this summer to tell me that she was now with James Potter. I mean come on! Its bad enough I have to see him and Sirius when they're with Remus, and now I have to put up with him draped all over my best mate."

She felt bad allowing her mum to change the subject so easily, but she knew how much her mum loved talking about love and relationships. Having married off seven of her ten children, she was now working on the three youngest. Petra and Katrina, twins, had left Hogwarts that June and were now enjoying the freedom of a full time job. Both had moved out as soon as they stepped foot outside the school gates, leaving Allegra as the only child still at home, and moved on to bigger and better things. Both were still single, but it was only a matter of time.

Allegra, however, was in what seemed to be a very long term relationship with Remus Lupin. They had been together since the Christmas Ball of 1975 and, despite Sirius' constant attempts to sabotage the relationship, were still together.

She frowned at the thought of having to see Sirius again, before letting her mum complain about the length of her hair as she left the room. Allegra shut the door and threw herself onto her bed, still dressed in her pyjamas.

She lay there, for about ten minutes, staring at the ceiling, savouring the comfort of the mattress beneath her. Hogwarts was good for many things, education, food, possibly meeting men. However it was terrible for comfortable mattresses. Although Allegra had heard a rumour that the boys had it better, comfier beds and all that rubbish.

Finally, deciding it would be nice to pop to the shops and grab some sweets and a magazine to entertain her later whilst she waited for an hour for everyone else to get to school, she slid off the bed and grabbed a clean pair of jeans and her yellow smock top from the wardrobe.

Slipping her wedges on, she left her bedroom for the silence that was the main house. Being a weekday, her Dad was at work. He was some big shot in the publishing world, possibly the owner of several publications, both muggle and magical. But Allegra never remembered those sorts of details, so long as there was food on the table and gold in her personal account. Not that she was shallow. It was just that Allegra regarded certain material possessions as important, like food, and shoes. She hoped there was nothing wrong with being content with her situation in life. At least her father was mostly well off by his own actions. Not that her family didn't help. Unfortunately Charles Carahornne was the youngest of twelve children, and so didn't inherit as much as his other siblings. Only the house and a set amount of gold per year had been left to him.

When Allegra reached the ground floor she was almost knocked from her feet by a small child rushing at her from the sitting room. Allegra found herself gripping her niece Charlotte by the arms, trying to prevent her from falling over. The three year old giggled and lifted her arms to be picked up. Currently the little girl was going through a strange phase of not talking to people, it was safe to say that it was driving her mother up the wall.

Allegra picked her up and glanced over her head into the living room. There sat next to her mum was a very pregnant Maria. Allegra grinned at her sister before crossing the hall into the room and depositing the child onto the rug next to her twin brother.

"Hey Maria. You really do resemble a whale these days, Petra was not exaggerating when she told me."

"Thanks, I guess. It is a shame you're heading back to school today, I was just dropping the kids off for the next few weeks. I have to go into hospital."

"Why? What's wrong? Why isn't Thomas looking after them?"

"Whoa too many questions! Because they need somewhere to stay, because it's nearly my due date and because he has to work more than mum and dad."

Allegra nodded, not really understanding what she was agreeing with.

"Don't look so phased by it all. Your sister Edith is coming tonight to stay with her two anyway."

"I hope that when I have kids the whole family doesn't trek half way across the world to be there at 'the magical moment'"

"Germany isn't half way across the world. Why are you complaining anyway? In a few hours you'll be back at school and you won't have to worry about all the kids until I have baby Susannah."

"I'm loving how confident you are that it's a girl. Anyway I'm off to the shops, anyone want anything? Chocolate? Vodka?"

Maria looked as if she was contemplating sneaking a drink as Constance shook her head. Allegra took Maria's pause as a no and escaped out of the front door.

The sun was shining as she followed the well tread, but very short path from her house to the little post office stood at the edge of the village square. Across the square Allegra could see the local primary school. It appeared to be lunch time, judging from the children playing in the yard. Allegra could see her nephews playing in their little groups dotted around the playground.

She waved at the eldest, Jack, before ducking into the post office. Once inside she headed straight for the sweet stand, grabbed two bars of chocolate and crossed over to the magazines. She stood for about two minutes, debating between two magazines, before grabbing one and joining the small queue forming at the till.

"Hello Allegra, how's your Maria doing? Saw her dropping off the kids at school today."

"Fine, she's going into hospital today, something about being due."

"That's nice dear. Well I'll see you soon; have fun at that lovely school of yours."

Allegra nodded at the post mistress, before leaving slightly quicker than she had actually entered the shop. There was one thing about growing up in a tiny village, everyone knew the extremely boring details of each inhabitants lives. She had always thought there was nothing worse than being stuck in any of the shopkeepers company for longer than necessary, as they always asked the same repetitive questions.

Once she left the shop she turned off the road leading back to the house and followed a little path to the play park at the edge of the village. She reached the swings and plonked herself onto the seat. There was no point in returning home just yet. Her mother would be trying to compete with the little ones, whilst complaining to Maria about how she (Allegra) was yet to work out the benefits of rising with the sun.

Allegra swung lightly back and forth, keeping her feet on the ground. In a few hours she would have to set off for school and, despite the obvious benefit of seeing her friends, she would be stuck away from home for another year. At least it was her last year. Come September she'll be living the high life. Unfortunately she hadn't worked out what that high life will be. Seventeen and still without a life plan. Lily and Seraphina had lectured her about her inability to make decisions, reminding her that one day she wouldn't be able to depend on her parents for every choice in her life.

She realised the most she could hope for is that Remus proposes before she gets stuck without something to do.

The sun slipped behind some clouds, bringing Allegra out of her daydream. When she looked at her watch she saw that it was past two. She leaped up off the swings, grabbed her bag and ran back to the house.

When she let herself in the front door she was greeted with a disapproving glare from her mother and a chorus of hellos from the twins, who were now seated at the kitchen table drawing on a piece of blank parchment. Allegra grabbed a sandwich from the pile next to Charlotte and patted little Carolina on the head as she left the kitchen. She glanced back at her watch as she plonked herself in front of the fire, which thankfully was not lit. It was half two. Which meant she had three hours before she had to leave for school. There was only one choice for her. She set the alarm on the clock for five o'clock, lay down on the couch and closed her eyes.

She was in the middle of a graveyard, staring at what appeared to be a joint grave, judging by the two names. Suddenly her friends were all gathered around her, yet she couldn't talk to them. she looked down at her feet. There were four little babies sat on the floor. Then Lily opened her mouth, emitting a strange beeping sort of noise.

She woke with a start, staring at the clock, which now read five o'clock. She leaned over, slamming her hand down on the button and raising her arms in a stretch above her head. Yawning she stood up from the couch and looked in the mirror. She noted that her hair would benefit from a bobble, mascara could do with reapplication and she was pretty sure that she didn't draw the little red smiley face on her cheek. She rubbed it off, grimacing as her cheek became inflamed. With one last makeup check she ran upstairs to put her uniform on and grab her trunk. At the top stair she quickly remembered that it would be a good idea to send her owl back to school and find her cat Maxwell.

Finally, after shoving on her uniform and grabbing the little tabby from his hiding place behind the furnace, she gathered all her things and dumped them at the front door, just as her dad stepped in the door.

"Off are you? Be careful on the walk up. Theres been rumours in London that you know who has been lurking up near Hogwarts."

Allegra smiled at her father in a slightly off put way, before picking up the cat basket and the end of the trunk. Charles slid a shoulder bag over his daughters head and opened the door for her.

She stepped down, checking her pockets for her bus money, and set off down the road towards the bus stop.

Just as she reached the bench the bus came flying round the corner in a way that was possibly illegal. She climbed aboard, gaining evil glares from the driver as she dragged her trunk onto the bus. After throwing down the fare she shoved her trunk into the luggage compartment and grabbed the window seat at the front of the bus.

As the bus set off she stared at the village as it passed the window. She could accurately guess how long it would take to get to school from where they were, after all she had been riding on the same bus for many years, not just to school but to trips into Hogsmeade, or even to the town of Dumlairnoch, the nearest town to Kilrainey. The bus took a corner, bringing in to view the distant coast. From her position on the bus she could just see the shadow of Azkaban port. She knew that in ten minutes the bus would pass close to the little harbour, yet the muggles on board would see only a sign post claiming that there was a dangerous cliff just past the barrier.

It had been slightly scary growing up so close to the high security prison, with nothing to protect them from the chance that the dementors could get lost and appear in their village. The little cove closest to the harbour was nicknamed Misty cove, thanks to the permanent fog covering the settlement.

Thankfully the bus skirted the port without any bother from the creatures keeping watch over the prisoners. Allegra watched the mountains slip past as they headed back in land towards the town of Dumlairnoch. The town lay around half an hour away from the port, and the whole bus journey took around fifty minutes.

After passing more little villages, and watching as the passengers drifted on and off the bus, Allegra finally stood up as the bus pulled up outside the Dog and Goose pub in the outskirts of Dumlairnoch. She grabbed her trunk, thankfully lighter after her mother had charmed it, and stepped off the bus. She pulled the trunk off towards a small copse of trees just left of the row of shops.

She wandered down the little path through the woods, hoping that no one from the town, or even anyone untoward, followed her as she approached a locked gate. It was at this gate she stopped, checked around her, before walking straight through the gate. On the other side she set off down the lane, heading up into the village of Hogsmeade.

She passed the Hogs Head, skirting a group of gossiping witches as she followed the main road, turning onto the Hogwarts path as she reached the end of the high street.

This journey was the downside to living so close to school. She had only got the train once, when she had stayed in London with her Great Uncle Frank for her third year. Despite having to sit on a train for too long, it was preferable to the long bus journey and the mind numbing walk from the bus stop up to school.

By the time she reached the front doors the sun had set. It was about seven by the time she had dumped her trunk in the Gryffindor bedroom and brushed her hair into a neat ponytail. She walked the empty corridors back to the great hall, where the teachers were all gathered at the high table. She waved at her Aunt Minerva before selecting a seat in the middle of the Gryffindor table. On the other side of the hall, at the Ravenclaw table, sat another local student. The third year boy lived in Hogsmeade village, and seemed to shun the company of anyone who wasn't a Ravenclaw.

Allegra opened one of the magazines she had brought from her bag upstairs and flicked though it without really reading it. The clock seemed to be ticking at the slowest pace in the world. She was tempted to put her head down onto the table, thinking that she could grab a few minutes sleep. Luckily she was saved from an unfortunate mid snooze drool situation by the doors being flung open by the crowds of students flowing into the hall. They were chattering about their summer and the small bit of gossip that had arisen from the long train journey. A few second years waved to her as they took their seats nearer to the high table. Allegra raised herself slightly off her seat just as the large group of seventh year Gryffindors piled in through the doors.

"LILY!" Allegra jumped up from the seat and rushed forward, hugging her best friend as she reached the end of the Gryffindor table.

"Leggy! God I've missed you! I so wished you could have been on the train, it was well fun. Alice thought that Serahad nicked her hair brush and so they had this massive argument, which ended with James picking Alice up, whilst Sirius grabbed Sera and they both got locked in a spare compartment. Two hours later they emerged best of friends again and Angelica pronounced them the silliest pair she had ever met. Which of course set Sirius off."

Allegra smiled and laughed at the appropriate parts, before following Lily back to her seat.

Once she sat down she turned to her left, where the empty seat had been filled by a young man who was currently arguing with another boy about whether or not it was appropriate to post anti-Snivellus posters all over the corridors of the train.

"Honestly, do you really think it makes you look better than him by carrying on this childish campaign?"

"I am so sorry, Carahornne, but no one asked for the opinion of Snivellus' number one fan."

"Oh buzz off Black, I'm not the one who is trying to destroy someone's life just because they don't fit into their strict rules for popularity."

"No, you just think that bitching about other girls behind their backs will allow you to get way ahead of them in the future."

"Could you two stop it? Sirius, you are one of my best friends, but sometimes you can take it too far. Allegra, you would do well not to rise to Sirius' stupid taunts." Remus shook his head at the pair before turning his attention to McGonagall, who had just led the line of first years into the hall.

After a rather intense and boring sorting, from which Gryffindor gained ten students, one of whom looked like he'd rather go back to muggle school, Dumbledore stood and clapped his hands. At that the table filled with food and across the hall students began grabbing at the great piles of food.

Allegra raised her eyebrows at Lily and Seraphina as the four boys to the left of them began fighting over each other trying to reach different plates. Allegra grabbed a chicken leg, a small pile of vegetables and one little pork pie and began to eat at a reasonable rate. Lily giggled as James accidentally dropped a bowl of mashed potato over Peters head, who began to apologise to James for getting in his way.

Finally, after a course change and a great speech from Dumbledore regarding the forest and Quidditch tryouts, the students rose. Allegra slipped a hand through Remus' arm and followed the group of friends from the hall, up the marble staircase and into the common room, where the seventh years grabbed the best chairs in the room and settled down for a long chat and in Sirius' case, a short nap.


	2. September 6th, Bad news

It was the second day of classes and Allegra was already bored. Though perhaps that wasn't because it was Tuesday morning and she had spent the whole of Monday night completing the homework set on her first day. It was possibly because she had been stuck at school for four days already and had been forced to put up with Sirius Black for longer than she had for the past two months.

She glanced at the clock as she rooted around in her trunk for her tights. It was ten to eight, meaning she had five minutes to get to breakfast or Lily would get severely annoyed, and no one wanted that. The red head had an interesting ability to disguise her temper until provoked by anything Allegra did. Anything included small things, big things and things that made absolutely no sense to anyone but Lily.

She sighed, pulled on her tights and made her way out of the door. There was one terrible thing about being a seventh year. In order to get to the dormitory the girls had to brave seven flights of stairs. At least they had a great view, especially when the seventh year boys forgot to shut their blinds.

Allegra reached the bottom of the stairs, revelling in the fact that she was the last seventh year to leave for breakfast. Being a slow dresser meant she was able to benefit from a lack of people in the common room. She grabbed a headband she had left on the table the night before, pushed it onto her head and assessed her reflection in the mirror.

With one final glance at her overall appearance she left the common room, following the corridors down to the great hall, where students were enjoying their breakfast and trying to finish last minute homework without their teachers seeing them.

She spotted her year on the Gryffindor table, debating whether or not she should sit next to Lily or Remus, noting that Sirius was opposite Remus. Going with her best friend she plonked herself down, grabbing the last croissant as she mumbled hello to her friends. Lily raised her eyebrow as she continued to eat her toast, taking in her friends slightly dishevelled appearance. She noted the headband shoved unceremoniously onto her head, the lack of mascara and the ladder in her tights, which grew every time her leg moved.

Allegra glanced up at Lily, watching her friends eyes roam over her appearance. She hated this ritual, Lily would make note of the things wrong with her before pulling her to the nearest bathroom to correct the faults. She was about to point Lily back in the direction of the food when she noticed the post arrive.

The owls swooped towards their owners, several dive bombing the tables, hitting bowls and sending food flying. Allegra watched as her father's owl made its way to the Gryffindor table.

"That's strange, Dad never sends me letters." She reached over to the owl's leg and removed the letter attached. She rolled it open.

'_Dear Allegra._

_It is with great sadness that I write to you today. Last night your mother passed away. It was quite sudden, though as you well know came after a long time of suffering. The funeral is this Saturday and I hope that you will attend, alongside your aunt. Your siblings are making their way in so all shall be in attendance. I'm sure your mother would have not wanted you to feel too alone, so please feel free to bring support along._

_Dad'_

Allegra re-read the letter, scarcely believing the contents, before letting out a sob and dropping the parchment. Lily grabbed the letter from the table, understanding her friend's distress as she read it. She put the paper down and hugged Allegra tightly. Allegra, despite letting out a small sob, was sat dumbstruck. She didn't move for about two minutes, didn't cry or even speak. She glanced up at the high table, noticing McGonagall's face change as she read the letter that had just been delivered. Allegra stood up slowly, not taking in the confused looks she was receiving from her friends. The only thing that was running through her head was the thought that her mother was gone.

She moved away from the Gryffindor table, heading up to where her aunt was sat, head in hands. It crossed Allegra's mind that the teacher sat in front of her had just lost her sister. Constance and Minerva had been like best friends over the years, and now Minerva was faced with the news of her sister's death. Allegra didn't want to consider what she would feel like if she lost one of her sisters, she was too busy dealing with the current loss.

Climbing the small set of steps she approached the teachers table. Minerva looked up, glancing into the emotionless face of her niece. Allegra reached her hand out to her aunt. The older woman smiled, almost gratefully, at the outreached hand before placing her own hand on top of it.

"If you want, Allegra, you may take the day off. I will not be taking the day off from teaching, but my attendance is more valuable than yours today. However it is your choice."

"I'll go to classes, there's no point in skipping. Mum wouldn't be very happy if I failed my exams because of her."

Minerva nodded, allowing her niece to bid farewell and walk back to her seat. Once back at the table Allegra picked up her bag and turned to Lily, blanking the other teens who had just been informed by Lily of what happened.

"I'm going to go change my tights and re do my makeup and then I'll see you in charms." Allegra left the hall, not allowing herself to let her mind wander from anything but where her clean tights were. If she thought about anything else she wouldn't be able to control her emotions, which would allow her to do the unthinkable, let others know how she was feeling.

After the long trek up the stairs she found herself in the dormitory. She knelt at her trunk, moving items of clothing around as she searched for a clean, intact pair of tights. Locating a black pair at the bottom she sat down and pulled them on. Two minutes later she stood peering at her reflection in the mirror. Allegra sighed as she ran a brush through her hair and swept it up into a ponytail. Finally she re-applied her makeup, making sure she didn't stab herself in the eye with the mascara wand.

Just as she turned to leave the bedroom the door burst open, revealing the other four occupants of the room. Allegra watched as they all rushed over to their beds, searching for school books and quills. Angelica threw the contents of her trunk across her bed in search for her charms notes, watched silently by Lily who abhorred mess. Alice and Seraphina began to argue about who the bottle of ink on the desk belonged to. Allegra shook her head, not really wanting to get involved with any of their morning traditions. She picked up the bag she had dropped when they had entered the room and left the dormitory.

On the bottom stair she hesitated, her eyes finding yet another mirror. On the other side of the common room a group of lads made their way down the boy's staircase. Trailing slightly slower behind his friends was Remus, shaking his head as James and Sirius tripped over each other in an effort to get down the steps. He looked up, catching Allegra's eye. She smiled slightly, suddenly grateful that she had a nice quiet boyfriend. The pair met in the middle of the room, Allegra grabbing onto his proffered hand, knowing that she would need his support throughout the day. Tuesday was one of those unfortunate days, with Allegra having to sit though an entire day full of classes.

She let Remus lead her out of the common room, letting her surroundings wash over her as she avoided thinking about anything. Of course things never go to plan and she found herself thinking about Maria. Her sister was due to have her seventh child any day now and had hoped that her mother would be there. Even if she was just there to look after the children, it would have comforted Maria to know that her mum was there. Constance had also looked forward to the birth of her seventeenth grandchild, a grandchild she would never be able to hold in her arms. Allegra stopped dead as they reached the charms classroom. Remus, noticing the halt turned to look at her.

"Are you ok?"

She paused for a second, trying to work out if she should enter the classroom or if she would do well to run back to the common room. Her question was answered as Sirius Black appeared, ushering the couple into the room.

She sat next to Lily, taking out her charms book and settling down to stare at the desk in front of her. Across the room Sirius and James began their daily Quidditch debate with two members of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, who shared the NEWT charms class with the six Gryffindors, three Ravenclaws and Narcissa Black. Narcissa tried to get Allegra's attention, succeeding as the girl glanced up into her friends face. The pair shared a look, before Allegra sent a note detailing the information she had received over to the blonde.

A quick scan of the note offered Narcissa everything she needed to know and she was about to reply when Flitwick walked in. Allegra was secretly glad the teacher had walked in at that moment, as it gave her time to gather her emotions together after admitting the truth to her friend.

The class began in its usual way, allowing Allegra to get lost in the lesson and to ignore all the thoughts flying around her head. However she lost that ability ten minutes into the lesson, when the snake Sirius was trying to charm broke free, heading straight for a petrified Lily. The class erupted into chattering as Sirius and James helped Flitwick to wrestle the snake back into a cage. The situation with the snake brought it back to Allegra, who had just been thinking how amused her mother would be to hear about the event. Unlike before she was no longer able to hold her emotions in. she began to sob uncontrollably, shocking Lily, who had never seen her friend act in such a way. At once the six girls in the class rushed over to where Allegra sat, not helping the situation at all. With one wave of his wand Flitwick silenced the class and asked Lily to help Allegra back to the common room, as clearly she was in no state to learn today.

The two girls left the classroom quickly, with Lily trying to stop the other girl from crying. They reached the common room, where the redhead ushered her friend onto the sofa. Allegra lay down, letting the tears flow as she watched the fire. She didn't feel the need to hold in her emotions, why should she? Everyone naturally assumed she would break down at some point, why deny them the pleasure of seeing her in tears.

She barely noticed Lily leaving the room, choosing instead to drift off. Every now and again she woke up, watching as the other students moved in and out of the room, some sitting in the armchairs nearby. Remus sat watching Allegra for an hour during one of his frees.

When she finally woke up properly the sun had nearly set. A glance at the clock told her it was just after dinner. She sat up, wondering where her friends were just as the portrait swung open. Lily stepped in first, a covered plate of food in her hands, whilst she argued with Alice about the other girl's habit of leaving toothpaste all over the female bathroom. The pair stopped at the sofa, placing the plate in front of Allegra.

"Here I brought you some food, we decided that we could have you starve to death. Well Sirius seemed to think you'd survive on two ham paste sandwiches, but I think we argued our point well."

"Why what did you get me? Three ham sarnies?" Allegra took the cover off the plate, suddenly grateful for her friends as she revealed lamb chops with a side dish of vegetables. She dug into the food, not noticing her friends gather in the chairs around her.

Twenty minutes later she had finished her meal and sat back, watching the other teenagers around her. Remus was reading a book, whilst Alice and Frank shared the armchair next to him. Lily and Seraphina had taken up a game of exploding snap, watched by a sleepy looking Angelica and nervous Peter. On the other side to Remus sat James and Sirius, who were whispering about something whilst stabbing at what appeared to be a map.

Sirius glanced up, catching Allegra's eye. He raised his eyebrow, holding her steady gaze. She wasn't one to be put off, over the years she had more trouble with the boy than just staring contests. Finally he shifted his gaze back to whatever they were working on in the corner.

Allegra realized that as much as they resisted their friendship would always grow slightly. Over the holidays they had seen more of each other than usual, especially after Allegra had invited the whole gang up to hers for three days. It was possibly the fact that her best friend was now going out with his best friend, plus she had been with Remus for quite a while now. The past few weeks had offered a new side of Sirius, a funnier side. One that she didn't want to punch. It helped that he detested Snape as much as she did at the moment, though for slightly different reasons.

"Yo, Leggy, bedtime?" Lily poked her friend in the side with her quill. Allegra glanced at Lily, before nodding and getting up from her chair. The clock now read half ten, the accepted curfew in Gryffindor.

She followed Lily and Alice up to the dormitory after pausing to kiss Remus goodnight. After brushing her teeth and locating her pyjamas she crawled into bed, hoping that today's events would wind into her memory, becoming less prominent in the morning.


End file.
